Improved process for carbureting air



Carburetor.

. Patented April fl, 1865.

N. PETERS Mn-Ulhognpbir. Wahingfan. D. C.

UNITED STAT S PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN H. IRWIN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 47,257, dated April 11,1865.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN H. IRWIN, of the city of Chicago, in the countyof Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Apparatus for Generating Illuminating-Gas; and I dohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings and the letters and figures marked thereon, which form part ofthis specification.

My said invention relates to that class of gas-generating apparatus, inwhich the illuminating-gas is produced by passing currents ofatmospheric air over and in contact with naphtha or other similarhydrocarbon oils, whereby the said air, becomes surcharged with thevolatile portions of the naphtha or carbureted, and can then be used forilluminating purposes, substantially as ordinary gas is used. A

Heretofore in all apparatus of this class cold air has been employed,and the current of air requisite to produce the gas and give the properamount of pressure at the burners has been obtained by the employment ofa fan or bellows, or some other equivalent blowing ap paratus, inconnection with the carburetor; but my invention consists not in theemployment of heated air broadly, but in producing the aforesaid currentof air through the carburetor and the proper pressure at the burners byintroducing a column of heated air, generated below the carburetingapparatus, so that the natural upward tendency of the said heated aircreates the requisitecurrent through the carburetor, and forces thecarbureted air with a uniform and continuous pressure to the burners, ashereinafter described or the air may be heated at any point g inrelation to the carburetor, provided that a current of air is producedthrough the carburetor, by the upward tendency of heated air or itsexpansive properties. Moreover, by the employment of heated air theprocess of carbureting is much more rapid than when cold air is used,and will absorb all or nearly all of the naphtha, which is not the casewith cold air.

To enable those skilled in the art to understand how to construct anduse my invention, I will proceed to describe the same withparticularity, making reference in so doing to the aforesaid drawings,in which-- Figure 1 represents a plan or top view of the carburetingapparatus. Fig. 2 is a side view of my invention. Fig.3represents abottom view of the furnace or heater. Fig. 4 i avertieal section ofthesame at the line m in Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 represents another form ofheater which may be used when gas is burned in the same.

Similar letters of reference in the several drawings denote the sameparts of my invention.

A represents the carbureting apparatus, and consists of a close metallicvessel provided with a series of vertical partitions extending from thetop to the bottom and arranged as shown, so as to cause the current ofair to pass back and forth across the appapipes or tubes 0, Drepresenting the handle.

of a slide or valve, whereby the tubes 0 may be closed so as to cut offall communication with the carbureting apparatus.

E represents an air-tube entering the chamber B above the pipes O,toprevent the carbureted air from flowing down the hot-air pipe, ashereinafter more fully described.

F represents the pipe through which the hot air ascends into thecarburetor from the furnace, which I will now describe, and which isdesigned to be placed in the basement, the carburetor being placed inthe attic or upper part of the house, as the carbureted air or as isheavier than atmospheric air, and in that case the pressure at theburners is the combined result of the pressure of the hot-air column andthe weight of the column of gas,

although burners may be placed above the carburetor where therewill be adiminished pressure. p

The heating apparatus consists of an inverted bell-shaped metallicinclosure terminating at the top in the pipe F, and having an innerwall, (marked H,) which is closed atthe top, the connection between thelower edge of said interior wall and the exterior inclosure air rushesin through the perforations.

'inverted bell shownin Fig. 5 may be used unbeing perfbrated for theadmission of air, which has free ascent into the pipe F, as shown I bythe arrows. The space inside of the interior wall is provided at the topwith two outlets, (marked I I,) through which the exhausted air orsmoke'occasioned by the combustion within may escape. Beneath thiscentral inclosure burners are placed, connected with the gas-pipesleading down from the carburetor, as shown, which, being ignited, heatsthe air in the space inclosed by the outer wall, causing it to rise inthe pipe I, while fresh When gas is used'to heat the air, there being nosmoke produced, the above described arrangements is unnecessary, and thesimple der which to heat the air.

The operation of my invention is as follows: When the heated air ascendsand is forced through the carbureting apparatus by the continuous upwardpressure of the ascending column of heated air, itbecomes carbureted andpasses into the gas-pipe M, leading from the apparatus to the variousburners, the heat still acting upon the same, and keeping up the desiredpressure at the burners, in conneetion with the specific gravity of thecarbureted air, and also at points above the carburetor, though thepressure at such points must obviously be less than at points belowwhere the weight of the gas assists the pressure of the hot air. I donot limit myself to the use of any particular form of carburetingapparatus, nor any particular kind of apparatus for heating the air, butcan make use of any now in use.

Having described my improvement and its operation, I will nowspecifywhat I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent.

1 claim- Producing a current of air through a carbureting apparatus anda pressure at the burners by the action of heated air, substantially asand for the purposes herein specified and shown.

JOHN H. IRWIN. Witnesses:

W. E. MARns, L. L. OOBURN.

